China aims to slash its air pollution by 2017

CHINA may soon breathe a little easier. The nation’s State Council has announced strict measures to cut the amount of air pollution chucked out by industry by nearly a third by the end of 2017.

It’s a big move, but it’s only the first salvo of a lengthy battle. Much of eastern China suffers from severe air pollution due to heavy industry and enormous volumes of traffic. In early 2013, the pollution in Beijing was the worst on record. Levels of particles less than 2.5 micrometres across, known as PM2.5, were 22 times what the World Health Organization considers safe . Although the air has been much cleaner in recent months, China’s pollution still regularly reaches unhealthy levels, and the country’s emerging middle class has begun protesting regularly about the bad air.

On 14 June, the State Council announced that heavy industries like steel manufacturing will have to replace outdated technologies and publish data on pollutants. The council also wants to cut the use of coal-fired boilers, which heat many apartment buildings.

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If all goes as planned, major industries will cut their pollutant emissions by 30 per cent by the end of 2017.

Owen Cooper of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, calls the target ambitious. In developed countries like the US that have a track record for cutting air pollution, cuts have taken much longer than that.

The challenge, Cooper says, will be to cut pollutants fast enough to outpace China’s rapid economic growth, which drives up pollution. China made cuts on emissions between 1990 and 2005, but the economy grew so fast that pollution still rose, albeit at a slower pace (Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, DOI&colon; 10.5194/acp-11-931-2011).

China’s decision is a good start, says Cooper. “But it’s not going to make a difference if their economy continues to grow.”